Linda Stasi

The acting is as good as you'll see on TV (take a hard look at the genius of RJ Mitte, who really does have CP). And the script and plot are as out-there as creator/writer/producer Vince Gilligan's other series, "The X-Files."

Ken Tucker

Barry Garron

Give Gilligan credit for a pilot, written mostly as one long flashback, that is suspenseful and surprising. Cranston is always fun to watch and Bad is no exception. What's more, a strong supporting cast suggests there is a lot of room for this series to grow.

Robert Abele

What this sharp if unsettling show wants to meet head on is middle-class angst, the quiet desperation that starts to unravel in the upstanding when their obligations suddenly seem insurmountable--or what happens when the folly of controlling one's destiny starts to resemble the riskiest of lab experiments.

Diane Werts

Charlie McCollum

Occasionally, something will pop up to remind us of just how good television can be when smart writers come up with an intriguing concept and execute it well. A case in point is Breaking Bad, an edgy, challenging new series.

Alan Sepinwall

Alessandra Stanley

It’s the pacing that makes Breaking Bad more of a hard slog than a cautionary joy ride. It has good acting, particularly by Bryan Cranston (“Malcolm in the Middle”), who blends Walt’s sad-sack passivity with glints of wry self-awareness.

John Leonard

Not enough of Breaking Bad was available for preview to decide whether the supporting cast will eventually satisfy as much as "Weeds" regulars like Elizabeth Perkins, Kevin Nealon, Tonye Patano, and Justin Kirk, but Cranston’s Walter is already a winner.

Rob Owen

In such rare instances [in the second episode], Breaking Bad achieves a perfect moment of nerdy believability, but too often the series fails to provide details that would help explain its characters' illogical choices.

Tom Shales

Nancy Franklin

Breaking Bad is very well done, but it has a bleakness that seems to be manufactured for no good reason. In its spiral down toward nothingness, Breaking Bad pulls viewers down with it, just because it can.

Troy Patterson

Doug Elfman

Breaking could be a good study of acting, since Cranston and Aaron Paul (as his partner, Jesse) get under the grimy skin of their characters. But there's not enough of the good stuff, like writing, directing, mood, cinematography--you get the point.